From the BBC:

 

But then that is the very way the system has been designed to work. 

* The operator has been able to invest his own money if he wishes and can see a return to him on that.  And we've seen that done on longer franchises such as Chiltern in its earlier phases.

* The local authority or wider taxpayers can invest is they get a return in a more buoyant local economy - more local business, more local tax, etc

* Third parties can invest if they get a business return - for example a developer building a new station at Bristol Brabazon or Cranbrook to be able to turn open countryside or a derelict site into more valuable land for houses.

I've seen it suggested in Devon / current topic that the movement of 6th form education from across North Devon into Exeter has lead to a rather significant rise in train (wannabe) or bus (oops!) traffic from Barnstaple, and because that's where the rise came from, the funding should come from the educators.    Who knows - perhaps the 175 program that's not (it seems) gone as planned HAS been partly funded by the education department?

 

View this email in a web browser   |   Network Rail Communities

   
Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter with an update from the Portishead Line. Please get in touch if you have any questions. You’ll find all our details at the end of this email.
Community drop-in events
Our next drop-in events will be held on:

Wednesday 7 October, 4.30 to 7.30pm, Somerset Hall, Portishead
Wednesday 14 October, 4.30 to 7.30pm, St George's Church Hall, Easton-in-Gordano
Everyone is welcome to attend. Our team will be available with more information and to take any questions.

Please note the change of times for both events from previously and a new venue at Easton-in-Gordano.
Rail Minister visit

The Rail Minister, Lord Peter Hendy, visited Portishead to see progress made on the project so far. He was joined by Marcus Jones, Great Western route director for Network Rail, Joanna Grew, Great Western route strategy director for Network Rail and GWR, Sadik Al-Hassan, MP for North Somerset, Cllr Mike Bell, leader of North Somerset Council, and Emma Blackham, transport director for West of England Mayoral Combined Authority.

Progress in Pill

Work is in full swing in Pill. The cuttings alongside the railway are being excavated to create space for a second railway line and a platform for the new station. One the cuttings are excavated, they're strengthened with over 1,600 steel roads, drilled up to seven metres deep into the cutting, which are then grouted to secure them.

The garages next to Avon Road railway bridge are being demolished as we prepare to build a new bridge next spring. And we're building a haul road from Marsh Lane bridge to our site compound at Lodway Farm to prevent construction traffic driving through Pill.

The right of way from Marsh Lane bridge towards Pill and the route under Avon Road bridge are now suspended. Diversions are in place, see map below.

Work continues to install new drainage on Underbanks. The road is closed to all traffic but the pavements are open to pedestrians. Four-way temporary traffic lights are also in use near Pill Memorial Club as we improve the road, pavements and bus stops. Both pieces of work are expected to be completed in November.
Progress in Portishead

In Portishead, the next stage of work to build a new road and roundabout will see Harbour Road closed overnight for two weeks to all traffic and pedestrians while we install drainage and asphalt.

From 8pm on Monday 19 October until 6am on Sunday 25 October
Road closed: 8pm to 6am each night
Road reopens: 6am to 8pm each day
From 8pm on Monday 9 November until 6am Sunday 15 November
Road closed: 8pm to 6am each night
Road reopens: 6am to 8pm each day
The one-way system on Harbour Road also continues at all times until November. Traffic can only travel east, towards the roundabout. A diversion via Wyndham Way and Station Road is clearly signposted. See below map.

And along the railway line, we're installing culverts and preparing for earthworks, which could be noisy.

Sheepway bridge


Work continues until October to strengthen Sheepway bridge. The bridge is closed to all traffic and pedestrians and a diversion is clearly signposted. Buses cannot travel along Sheepway and will be diverted via The Portbury Hundred.

Passengers travelling to Bristol: use the existing bus stop on Portbury Hundred, beyond the pedestrian footbridge near Station Road.
Passengers returning from Bristol: alight at Sainsbury's, Portishead, and take the dedicated shuttle bus back to Sheepway.

A shuttle bus runs between the Portbury end of Sheepway and Sainsbury's in Portishead from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday, every 20 minutes, calling at:

·         Elm Tree Park
·         Station Road
·         Wyndham Way – temporary bus stops near Portbury Hundred roundabout
·         Sainsbury's, Portishead

Bus stops at Conference Close, Portishead Ecology Park and Shipway Farm are suspended during the closure.


 
 
 
 
   

 

For any enquiries, please call our 24-7 helpline or go online

03457 11 41 41
networkrail.co.uk/contact-us
   
For the latest updates find us on Facebook:

facebook.com/portisheadline

And for more information about the project, visit our webpage:

networkrail.co.uk/portisheadline
 

 

 

That has been "nagging" at me.  I suspect it's beccause our "like" function may communicate with the server(s) using http rather than https protocols and security settings in your browser are too tight to let that through / or you have some anti-tracking software running that thinks your "like" is a tracking mechanism.  It's probably not a sensible use of what could be a lot of time to replicate, fix and test when the "like" mechanism as a whole needs sorting - sorry!

 
A couple so far today:

 
You invest to get a return, but GWR see no return in the South West but are prepared to ride on the backs of others. Taxpayers, Stakeholders, third parties.

Some more passing loops and increased services would give them more passengers, more revenue.

This applies to SWR as well. They were under the same umbrella once long before nationalisation.

They just don't seem to see what is happening to a city like Exeter which has become a hub for most of Devon, Somerset, and Dorset.

 
https://brilliantmaps.com/most-stressful-train-stations-in-the-world/


Posted on "the lighter side" based on how hugely terrible the maps are.  The maps are stylised, but "Sutton" looks to me to be somewhere near Dunbar ... and it's interesting that it's the only one in the top 100 in the UK.

 
From Blackpool Transport posted yesterday, 10th September 2026

 


This is a temporary change - "Sorry for any inconvenience caused and we will resume normal services once the building is made safe or demolished and the road reopens."

 
They terminate at Fishers Wharf,and the bus takes you to the Fleetwood stop.
This is due to possible collapse of a building on the tram route.
Surprised that
1)There are no departure display boards on any of the tram stops
2) There are no ticket issuing machines at any of the tram stops

 

D cells are less used than in years gone by, but have the merit of costing about twice as much as AA cells but giving from 6 to 10 times the capacity.
Mainly used in larger torches and lanterns. Four D cells in a torch with a 700 ma bulb will run for about 12 hours, with AA cells under 2 hours.

D cells can also be used, with an adaptor, in railway type Bardic lamps, now that the correct AD 28 batteries are extinct.

 
Nothing yet for GWR, but seems new train orders for UK have started again. 

I don't think there has been any non Open Access orders since 2019 (except the 10 extra Elizabeth line trains and the 10 CAF class 387s for LNER)

29 x 5car trains for Transpennine have just been announced (but not until 2034) from Alstom at Derby

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd94y7d7qyzo

 

I verged on just adding a 'like' to IndustryInsider's post, but I then thought better of it: that would be too simplistic.

The fact of the matter is, with their commercial parent group First looking at re-nationalisation of their railways from December 2026, they are rather unlikely to spend anything they don't have to in the meantime ...

CfN. 

 

As an aside here on this topic, may I thank MVR S&T here for his very generous , and much appreciated, arrangement to post some of his surplus Ordnance Survey maps to me.

Chris from Nailsea.

 
There's a section on the class 175 problems in this week's Green Signals podcast and weekly You Tube video, including an interview with Barry Milsom of GWR. See https://www.greensignals.org/podcast/more-diversions-gwrs-plan-to-keep-customers-on-trains-over-christmas/ at 14.55
 
(it also includes a piece on diversions during the up-coming blockades between Reading and Paddington that members will find of interest).

 

Why would they?

 
Ely :2: 175008 (half), 175104

Wolverton : 9 : 175005 by road.  175102/103/105/106/107/108/109/110. 175008 (half) Bold are Green

Laira : 14: 175002/007/009, 175114 ex Ely; 175001/003/006/011, 175101/111/112/113/115/116 ex Wolverton

Exeter : 1 : 175004 ex Wolverton

Long Rock : 1 : 175010 ex Ely

as of 10 September 2026. No trains from Wolverton since the 23 June 2026

A video of Ely Papworth. Very few trains anymore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Pxs7EZLo0&t=81s

 

Yes, because those three groups always got on so well together under British Rail, didn't they! 

 

Indeed the problems of the interactions between the interests of a private operating company and other parties WILL go away - there will be no private operating company any more.    Magic.  Of course, there will be a new management at the DfT ... and what they do and how they do it is the $64,000 question

 
Looking from left field, I recall a heritage train running to Windemere.   And I learn from an Internet search that a Hastings Diesel unit visited Barnstaple on 25th June 2005 - https://www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/railtours/2005tarka - and presumably there's no real reason why one of those couldn't be hired out to the Tarka Line now that it has returned from Sheffield Park.

Loading might still be a problem - even with a six car Hastings unit, so many enthusiasts would be drawn that even at that length it might overload ...

 
That was my thoughts, what do we use D cells for now?
OS in post CFN.

 

Of course it will: that's the whole point of re-nationalising the railways.

Pay attention, at the back of the classroom there! 

 

Again, I agree with broadgage here.

In our household, we have a plentiful supply of candles in store.

We also have plenty of batteries, particularly AA and AAA.  Interestingly, we also had a large number of D Cell, but after a family conference, we couldn't identify any of our appliances which used them.  After making local enquiries, we couldn't find anyone else who would have a use for them - so we dumped them, in the recycling container at the local civic amenity site. 

Bottled drinking water we also have.  This has already proved useful, as we have suffered a couple of water supply outrages temporary failures, one due to a JCB driver impaling a water main on a building site the other side of Nailsea. 

As well as those, we also have a sufficient supply of canned and dried food to last for several days, in case of need.

CfN. 

 

I loved to see it. Also the EU in the south west, a poster from 2018:



Edit: Postimages seems to have derailed, let's see if it comes back and the above image appears...

 
We are rather straying from the original topic, but I do agree with broadgage on that one. 

CfN. 

 
From the BBC:

 
Long underwear is preferred in severe cold weather, or in moderate cold if heating fuel is short, short underwear at other times.
Cotton is most comfortable for daily use, wool is warmest.

 
Some more including a "regular" pair:


(edited to add the 15:08 WOF:PAD)

 

Not wrong. I do think it was a mistake not.to havw created a few more battery powered class 230s to.use on some local services around Bristol TM  especially as its likely we'll be waiting years for a order of BEMUs

 
Thank you for the replies, I am not sure why, but I am unable to "like" a post

Out of interest, has the journey time changed?
I assume getting on a the bottom of Temple Way adds a minute or so